1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to elongated housings which have high tensile and compression strength while also being flexible.
2. Description of Related Art
Undersea photonics systems require exceptional means for protection against the deep ocean pressures, abrasive underwater structures and saltwater corrosion. Additionally, deployment from moving ships of thousands of miles of optical fiber cable with hundreds of lightwave repeater units require housings for such units that can withstand tensile loads of up to 45,000 lbs. Also, transferring loads between repeater housings and cables require more strength than the prior art cable spicing and clamping techniques provide.
An arrangement for terminating a stranded cable to a large socket is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,008. The cable strands are distributed about a tapered opening in the socket body. A matching plug and malleable sleeve are forced into the opening until the sleeve cold flows about portions of the cable strands. This creates an expanded area of frictional engagement and facilitates the tensile load capability of the connection.
A significant disadvantage of the above arrangement is that it provides no housing at all for the necessary electro-optic instruments required in the aforementioned lightwave repeater units. The socket body terminates the cable strands, but it provides nothing for transferring tensile loads through an elongated housing (typically 5-15 feet long).
Further, such housings must be flexible so they can be wound upon, transported and unwound from large spools. The aforementioned socket body is a solid metal part and is not flexible. The prior art device also leaves the cable strands exposed to the environment and provides no means for corrosion protection of the interior plug, sleeve and cable engagement area.